Dad's Day and an Assembly Line

Today was a catch-up day for me. There's the usual Sunday fun that includes emptying and refilling the dishwasher, doing several loads of laundry, etc., but today I also set to work on making some cards so I'll have something to sell next weekend, and also something for The Ladies to make at my Stamp Camps next Sunday & Monday.

So first I did a little catching up on my blog reading, looking for inspiration, when I saw this card on Mary Fish's blog. I immediately fell in love with the Curry & Basic Gray color combo, plus her use of a punch to make a background. Here's my version of her card:


I liked her use of the textured Crushed Curry card stock, but naturally I don't have enough of it to go around. Then one of my customers stopped by to pick up an order, and I asked her what she thought. She suggested I use one of the SU (to be legal for a workshop, you know) textured plates or embossing folders to make it really textured - GENIUS, I say, pure GENIUS! Then I screamed "Argyle", which she loved, and my Father's Day card was born.

Yeah, I changed a few other things - the knot in the ribbon is more subtle (it's for Dad, after all), I used a current sentiment with a few different punches, and I left off the brad. So it's a true CASE - I used most of her ideas, but still made it my own. Yay! One more card to go and I'll have all four for next weekend.

Also on my crafty list for today was to make some packs of City Cards. WHA? They are packs of cards I make with an image of a row of buildings, stamped & colored, with a city name underneath. I print the city name on the 'puter, but I stamp the image (Stampendous), color it with Copics, and package them in 5-packs. This is a long and tedious process, so I tend to make them in large batches, dedicating a few evenings to make them.

At Saturday's market I was asked several times if I had any, and sadly I did not. THAT is why I am making a batch now. It's wonderful to have repeat customers (especially the first day of the season!), but they tend to point out just how far behind I really am. ;-( So since I am mid-process, I thought I'd show you how I make these.

I start by printing the city names du jour on the cards. I did these Saturday night. I thought I had 80, but it's only 70. Cake walk. Then I set everything out to start to work assembly-line-like (God Bless Henry Ford).


Notice anything strange about this photo? Do you see any clutter? No, you do not! THAT is because my Captain's Table is such a stinkin' mess, I have no room to make these, so I set up a table in the Dining Room. I have all the cards in piles by city name, my new Memento Black ink pad (you may recall I re-inked my old one with the wrong ink) and my Copics of choice.

First I stamped the image on each card (ink, stamp, ink, stamp ... x 70) and I ended up with this:


This alone is an accomplishment in my world.

Next, I used the yellow Copic and started to color:


I colored the same building on each card (x 70) and I ended up with this:


Yellows: all done! Then I started with the green:


Boy, it doesn't get much more exciting than this, does it? Because this is so repetitive, I take breaks so my neck and back don't seize up on me. I'll be working on the green buildings this evening, then I'll move on to the Putty ones. I save the red for last because I do two buildings in that color. Then there's the doors, the roofs (rooves?), the building outlines, and finally the birds. I always draw in birds.

I plan to bore you to tears over the next few nights with progress reports on all of this. I also have a Mother's Day card in progress that I'll share tomorrow evening.

And in case you were wondering, I have a dream that one day I will find the time and the talent to draw my own buildings so I can digitize the drawing and print the buildings instead of stamping them. In fact, I could also color them digitally and just print the whole card! Wouldn't that be fantastic? It would be cheating, but still a real time-saver! :-)

That's all I have for now. I might get a little crazy and leave the house in a bit and buy some food. Maybe. Or not. Changing out of my jammies sounds like work. I have crackers and cheese ... I'll live.

Thanks for stopping by!